Shaman King: Escape from Aegolius Canyon
by Celestial Moonlight Blade
Summary: This is set after the Shaman Fight. The children of Hao, Yoh, Ren, Horohoro and Lyserg are deoprted to a so-called orphanage called Aegolius. What is the true nature of this place? And can Sophia and her freinds ever escape? Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing

_**Shaman King: Escape from Aegolius canyon**_

Chapter 1

**/Asakura compound, Tokyo**

_Hana was woken by the sounds of yelling and pounding footsteps. Pulling himself out of bed, he walked downstairs._

"_Who in the world would come here in the middle of the night?" He wondered. When he got downstairs, he saw the front door broken down, a group of strangers standing in his house, and on of them was holding a gun to his mother's head._

"_You damn…! What do you want?" Shinigami spat._

"_We're here for your boy, and we're not leaving until we get him." The man replied smoothly._

"_You know I'd never do that!" She snarled. Hana gasped. The strangers must have seen him there, for the man holding his mother promptly smiled._

"_Well, in that case…" The man put his finger to the trigger._

"_STOP!" Hana screamed. He ran into the room. "I'll go with you, I'll cooperate, but don't hurt my mother!"_

"_Hana, no! I forbid you!" _

"_Mom, if I let them hurt you, I'd never forgive myself." Hana chuckled tearfully. "Bye."_

"_Too bad, miss Asakura. All shaman children in the immediate area are being deported. We're doing this for your own good." Two of the men roughly grabbed Hana and dragged him away. As soon as she was alone, Shinigami fell to her knees and began to cry._

**/A few blocks away…**

_There was a crashing noise outside. "Be careful, you idiot! If Hao Asakura catches us deporting his only child, we'll become human BBQ! Stay quiet." Sophia Asakura blinked awake at the noise. She could have sworn she heard someone talking outside, but suddenly it was quiet. Generally confused, she got into her slippers and stepped outside. _

"_Small one!" Suddenly the spirit of fire appeared next to her. "It's dangerous out here!" _

"_Flame, what the heck are you doing?" Sophia exclaimed. "Get back in your tablet!" She pushed the spirit into the crystal tablet, hoping none of the local shaman had seen it and gotten the wrong idea. She stood in silence for a few moments. Gradually, she heard the pitiful mews of a cat in trouble. _

_Sophia fell for the ruse. As soon as she got to the bridge the noise was coming from, the men grabbed her arms and pulled her into their car. Back at the house, Hao woke at the sound of someone crying. _

"_Tamao? What's wrong?" Tamao turned and looked at him, tears running down her cheeks._

"_They took her." She sobbed. "They took Sophia away."_

**/Tao family residence, China**

_Athena had heard them coming. "Li! On your feet!" She dragged her confused brother upstairs and into her closet. "Not a sound, if you know what's good for you." She whispered fiercely._

"_Sis-!" Li was cut off as Athena slammed the door shut and locked it._

"_Rairaicocoon!" Athena dragged the spirit of lightning into her tablet and stuffed it into her robe pocket along with her father's lightning sword. She stood at the door and waited. When the men came in, Athena opened her arms._

"_In case you're wondering, yes I am the only child shaman in the house. Now take me and buzz off."_

"_Li? What on earth are you doing in that closet?" Ren stared at his son as he yanked the door open and Li spilled out. _

"_They took her." Ren's eyes widened in horror. "They took sis!"_

**/Ainu village**

"_Not in this generation, bro. If we're being deported, we're being deported together." The girl hissed fiercely, gripping her brother's wrist so hard he was surprised it didn't break. _

"_But Minty-!"_

"_No buts, Deep Blue!" The siblings stood together as the men broke down the door and took them too. Horohoro came in just in time to see them taken away. "No…"_

**/Tokyo**

"_I told you. There are no child shaman in this house!" The girl growled. Mike had flattened himself in the upper bunk of the storage closet, begging his guardian ghost to keep the steam up to make it look like something was being cooked, rather than a child shaman cowering in the cupboards. While he was grateful that his friend Cera was covering him, he was pretty upset most of his friends had already been deported._

"_Fine." The men left. Mike uncurled himself and slipped to the floor. _

"_Thank god." The girl murmured. She dropped to the floor, crying. "I know I shouldn't say this, but I'm so glad they didn't take you too. So glad."_

**/London, Britain**

_Drake Dethiel was walking home, keeping his homing pendulum in his pocket, looking constantly over his shoulder. But then he stopped._

"_How can I be considering my own safety when my friends have been deported? What if they're being tortured, forced into labor, or worse?" He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry…mom…dad…" He looked over his shoulder. "I know your there. I'm a child shaman. Take me." And with that, he was gone too._

**/Several hours later, Sophia's P.O.V.**

Sophia blinked several times before totally waking up. There was great pain in her body. She was being carried roughly into a giant canyon. _So it wasn't a nightmare. I've been snatched. _Now Sophia could remember-she had tried to get away, and the result was getting the tar beaten out of her.

"In here." Sophia was pitched into a dingy room, landing badly. "Don't get any bright ideas, Asakura. There is no escape form Aegolius." The man slammed the door shut. Sophia starting crying.

"Did they hurt you too?" A soft voice sounded from the other side of the room. Sophia looked up. Another girl was kneeling in front of her, deep brown eyes soft with concern. Her hair was shoulder-length and green, a very dark green, darker than even Drake's.

Sophia whimpered. The girl gently took her into her arms. "How old are you?"

"Six. I'm going to turn seven in May." Sophia sniffed finally.

"You were snatched from your mom and dad?" She asked. "I was taken from the orphanage I lived at. I'm an orphan. My name's Tatiana. Tatiana Oydmanta."

"I'm Sophia Asakura." Tatiana's eyes widened.

"Asakura…? I can't believe it! I've heard so much about your family." She got a good look at Sophia. "…You're father wouldn't happen to be Hao, would it?"

"Yes." Sophia took out Flame's tablet. "Daddy gave me this to me two nights before I was snatched. He was going to show me how to harness the power of the Spirit of Fire, but then all this happened…" She looked up at Tatiana. "Are we ever going to get home?"

Tatiana looked at her sadly. "They're doing everything they can do make sure we can never leave. I've been here three years. I tried running away and I got caught. They beat me until I could barely stand."

Sophia swallowed hard, trying not to wail out loud. _I don't want to stay here! I want to go home…I want to go home! _She buried her head in Tatiana's shoulders. "I don't wanna stay." She whined. "I wanna go home." Sophia cried and cried.

Tatiana hugged her new roommate close, gently pushing stay locks of her long dark brown hair out of her tear-stained eyes. "I'm sure there's a way out." She whispered. Sophia blinked. "I just can't figure it out…"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2

"WAKE UP!" Sophia was jerked out of her sleep by a boy standing at the entrance. Man, he was loud! _He must be the one responsible for getting everone to get up in the rudest way possible._ "UP AND ATTEM! GET TO THE MAIN LOBBY RIGHT AWAY!"

"He doesn't have to scream…" Sophia muttered, unzipping her battered sleeping bag (if you can call that makeshift scrap of twisted leather and cotton a sleeping bag) and scrambled to her feet. Tatiana was already awake and helped her stand up.

"Come on." She whispered. "It's a kind of roll call. The general is making a speech. We'll lose break privilege for a week if we're late." The girls practically ran down the halls and into the lobby. When she got to the lobby and into the last line, Sophia nearly fell over. Five of the children standing in a group at the side were very familiar. "Cousin? Drake? Athena? Minty? Deep Blue?" They spun around at the sound of her voice.

"Sophia!" Hana hugged her. "I was worried about you!"

"Who are these guys?" Tatiana asked quietly.

"Hana's my cousin." Sophia tipped her head, indicating Hana. "And these are friends of mine. Athena, Minty, Deep Blue, and Drake." Athena pushed her golden hair out of her face.

"You must be Sophia's roommate." She shook hands with Tatiana. "There's still life in your eyes. I can tell. You're one of the ones that they haven't been able to break yet."

"Yes. That's true, although they were getting close before Sophia was brought here. My name is Tatiana."

"Nice to meet you, Tatiana. I think we should-" Whatever Drake was going to say was cut off by the shrill screech of a foghorn. Instantly the other shaman children fell into several straight lines, and after a second Sophia and her friends did the same.

"I present to you your general, Skench!"

_Skench? _Sophia was dumbstruck. _Who on earth names their child SKENCH? _

"Skench?" Deep Blue echoed under his breath.

"Skench?" There probably wasn't anything in the world rounder than Minty's eyes right now.

"Well, that's what they said his name was." Athena remarked. "I do believe whoever mothered him must still be in a mental institution."

"Athena." Hana's voice held a quiet reprimand. "That's not very nice."

"I know." Athena muttered. "But snatched all these innocent kids like us, and forcing them into labor because they're shaman? He deserves every single insult thrown at him."

"I couldn't agree more." Deep Blue growled, glaring at Skench with a look of absolute hatred on his face.

"Welcome, young shaman. Welcome to Aegolius canyon. This is your new home. It is here that you will find truth and purpose. That is our motto. Where Truth is found, and Purpose is Revealed."

"translation: what they THINK is 'truth' and 'purpose'." Athena muttered indigently under her breath. Luckily, her comment went ignored by nearby superiors.

"It is our job to teach you truth. We discourage questions about the canyon or about your work because we feel they often distract from the truth." Sophia shook her head in bewilderment. She had been asking her parents all kinds of questions from the moment she began to talk.

Skench continued his speech. "You are all orphans now."

Sophia was stunned. _WHAT? I'm no orphan! If you're an orphan, your parents are dead. I'm no orphan and this freak of nature knows it! How dare he…_

Skench contiued his speech. "We rescued you. It is here at Aegolius that you shall find what you need to become humble, plain servants of the higher good."

Sophia was beyond furious, and so were her friends. _I haven't been rescued, I've been kidnapped. If these people had rescued me, they would have taken me back to the house instead of bringing me here. And what in the world is a 'higher good'? Higher than what? Hell? And for what? Do these people enjoy torturing shamanic kids?_

"You will be brought to the second lobby and he sorted into groups. The lunch room is down the hall to the right. When the bell rings, it is lunch. When it rings again, go back to your stations."

"More like back to your cells." Minty muttered darkly. The group bunched together as the other children filed out and into the second lobby.

"I hate this place already." Deep Blue agreed.

"Hard not to." Drake whispered. "But what's the 'higher good'? Why are we really here?" Hana shrugged.

"I wish I knew, Drake." He replied softly. "I really do." Sophia looked straight ahead. Something wasn't right. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something weird about this place. Something dark...

"Hello!" A fat young woman said cheerfully as Sophia, her friends, and a bunch of other children were brought to her. "I'm Madame Plonk. You're the lucky ones. You're storing the flecks!"

"The what?"


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I still own nothing

Chapter 3

If there was a force that could overwhelm the hatred Sophia had about being taken from her parents, it was sheer boredom. The rhythm of Aegolius canyon was dull, boring, repetitive, and never changed in the least. Days slipped into weeks, weeks into months, and no one seemed to notice that life was being wasted. Her schedule looked something like this:

6:30) Breakfist

6:45) Report to station

6:45-12:00) Work, work, and work some more

1:00) Lunch ends

1:00-5:30) Work again

5:30-6:00) Break

6:00-9:30) Work some more

9:30) Get to bed and sleep

There was little else to it. There was something weird about the flecks, but they didn't seem to hurt her or Athena and Tatiana, who were working on either side of her. She was pretty sure Hana and the others weren't affected either, but the flecks seem kinda strange, and Flame (spirit of fire) always grunted and growled and whined whenever she took a handful and put it into the next bag. It was as if they were somehow hurting him. Now Sophia hid her memorial tablet in her room in order to keep Flame from being confused or perhaps damaged by the flecks, and she insisted that Athena do the same with Rairaicocoon, the spirit of lightning that was her guardian spirit. And Tatiana always left her spirit, Zephyr: spirit of wind, in the room anyway. Their job was simple. They had to empty piles of small, golden flecks into bags, and then dump those bags down the shaft. They didn't know where the shaft lead.

"If these guys don't kill us, I think sheer boredom might finish me off instead." Athena muttered.

Tatiana let out a quiet murmur before taking Athena's bag and shoving it down the shaft. There was a click, and the sign flashed several times.

"What does that mean?" Sophia asked, nudging Tatiana.

"It means we've processed over three thousand bags in a few days." Tatiana replied.

"Oh bless my soul, you girls are hard workers!" Madame Plonk exclaimed. "You've earned yourself a thirty-minuet visit to the library! Have fun!"

"Man that woman is creepy." Sophia exclaimed as soon as they were out of earshot. Athena shouldered their library bag.

"Yeah. While everyone else are jerks, she and the other overseers are acting all nice and everything. I don't like it. But I am surprised they have a library." She growled. "Where is it anyway?"

"Three floors up. Close to the open sky." Tatiana replied softly. Sophia looked at her friend the unspoken words traveled between them. _If I only had enough mana, we could fly out and away from this canyon… _Athena caught on to their expressions and smiled softly. Not one of her sadistic smiles either. Just a regular smile.

"Yeah. That would be awesome, wouldn't it? After six month of Aegolius, I'd love to get out of here." Her voice was unusually gentle, and that's when Sophia realized that Athena must be just as homesick as she was. She put up a tough front, but she felt the same as the rest of them-almost physically ill from missing her family. "It's weird, the things I miss most. My pet dog, Muffins. My bed, and my brother's music practice. Mum's roasted chicken, which is practically lethal, and my dad practicing for a fencing competition…"

"Yeah, you're mom's about as good at cooking roasted chicken as my mom is at performing at recitals." Sophia quipped. "I swallowed it because I didn't want to be rude, but after living off bread, water and occasional hot dogs I'd give one of my limbs for a great steaming bowl of it right now." Athena managed to smile again.

"Up there." Tatiana's expression had suddenly changed. She took them inside.

"Tatiana? What's wrong?" Sophia asked, alarmed.

"Nothing's wrong." Tatiana's eyes were gleaming. "In fact, I think I've just found the keys."

"Keys for what?" Tatiana wildly signaled for her friends to stay quiet and ran up the stairs. Bewildered, Athena and Sophia split up and looked for books to read.

/Thirty minuets later

Tatiana practically flew down the stairs, her book bag heavy with books. "Tell Hana to get the rest of your friends back to our room right now." She ran out the door.

Athena stared after her, and then at Sophia. "Something's up. We've been here a long time and Tatiana's never acted like this. I wonder what kind of books she found."

Sophia shrugged and ran back to the station to get her cousin.

/Back at Sophia and Tatiana's dorm

Sophia finished tending to the fire in the small fireplace and sat in the circle on the crusty shag carpet. Hana, Athena, Minty, Deep Blue, and Drake were sitting in a circle.

"Where's Tatiana?" Minty asked, looking around.

"Beats me. I think they took her to the North Tower." Sophia replied.

"Tower detention?" Deep Blue rolled his eyes. "Didn't Madame Plonk _say _you were allowed to go to the library?"

"She did. I don't know why they're keeping her up there." Athena opened the book bag. Several books fell onto the floor: Skench's Journal, Aegolius inside map, Aegolius outside map, patrol times, and tome of the Patch.

"Why in the world would people in Aegolius have books like the Tome of the Patch?" Deep Blue asked.

"Look! She left an explanation note." In a hushed voice, Hana read:

"Sophia, Hana, guys, this is serious. Aegolius is more than just a work camp and a prison. This place is run by a nut job. You know Skench? He wants to reform. The grown-ups here who keep us in line are people who are either purist freaks or racists who hate shaman. It's dangerous here. Read Skench's diary. We have to get out of this place!"

"What on earth?" Minty pulled Skench's diary onto her lap. "I'll read this. Um, okay…Dear Diary, no matter where I go, there are fools in charge. Back in my home country, there were fools everywhere. The common people were okay, but I hated more than anything else their foolish leader. He would start war over the smallest accident and waste money on the most ridicules things! It was obvious to me he was as useless as the sun was bright. But…no one except myself could see how unqualified he was. They just blindly followed his lead, never once questioning him. My home was falling into ruin and no one held him accountable! How could they let such an incompetent fool stay in power? Even now I still can't comprehend it. I began studying shamanic readings and learned of the existence of shaman. I bribed the boarder guards of Tokyo and China to allow me to deport child shaman. Soon, I'll be able to take over the government and set things straight…"

Deep Blue's mouth dropped open. "You've got to be kidding me! They're letting this freak of nature _abduct _young shaman? And for THAT reason?"

"What about the flecks?" Drake quipped. "Why does he need them?"

"She has an answer to that too." Hana's voice was tight. Sophia peered over his shoulder and looked at the book he was holding.

"Flecks have a curios effect on the guardian spirits of young shaman. Since they don't have a ceiling yet, they can still change. Flecks, however, seem to morph the spirit into something dark, something evil…"

"Everything makes sense now." Sophia squeaked. "All the jobs, the endless work, the ban of asking questions…he's going to use us to change his country!"

"We have to get out of here." Athena said. Her voice was dead cold. "Tonight."

"Right now?"

"Yes. Right now." Athena took out Rairaicocoon's memorial tablet. She ran her hands over the maps of Aegolius. "And I know just how we're going to do it."

"How? There's, like, two billion guards out there!" Deep Blue asked.

"Yeah, how Athena?" Minty echoed, taking out her tablet and her brother's, which contained two Koropokkur spirits. "We don't have weapons."

"We don't need them." Athena closed Sophia's small fingers around Tatiana's memorial tablet. "We're going to fly out of here."

/Inner ring, Aegolius canyon

"Why did I get the worst job?" Sophia whimpered as she inched along the inside of the well-like passage leading to the place Tatiana was being kept; a secret room inside the library. She took another step and nearly lost her footing. The stone she had been standing on fell down, down, down and clattered on the far-away floor. Thoroughly spooked, Sophia kept a death grip on the stairs and finally pulled herself into the library.

"Sophia?" Tatiana stared.

Sophia thrust her tablet into her hands, eyes dark and serious. "Come on. We're leaving this place. Right now."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own nothing

/Back in Tokyo, Li's P.O.V.

"Deported?" Li echoed. Then his eyes narrowed with realization. "So it happened to all the others too…"

"I escaped them, but now part of me wishes I hadn't. I should be asleep most of the night, but I stay up worrying." Mike admitted. They were sitting in the living room. The grown ups were in the next room, and Li could hear Tamao crying from where he sat on the couch. "I'm particularly worried about Sophia. I mean, she's so young."

"Yeah. I hope she and the others are alright." Raiko, Faust's son, replied quietly. "The men weren't allowed into Germany, so I guess I got lucky. Li? How come you weren't deported too?"

"They didn't know I was there." Li replied quietly. "Athena had locked me in the closet and told me to stay quiet. They took her and figured she was an only child. Now I feel like a coward."

"I wonder what they're doing right now…" In the other room, their parents were discussing the same thing.

"Stop crying, Tamao." Ryo said gently. "I'm sure Sophia's okay."

"She got deported! How is that okay?" Tamao sobbed.

"She has several strong friends looking after her. She'll be okay." Hao squeezed her hand. Sniffing, Tamao hugged him, as if trying to draw strength from him.

"Mike avoided deportation, Li was hidden, the others are gone and we don't know where they were taken. What a world." Yoh said dejectedly. Shinigami knew that he was upset that he hadn't been able to protect his son, or her, when those men broke into their house.

Ren sighed softly, startling everyone. He had been so angry before, and suddenly he was being as quiet as a mouse. "I hope they're okay…"

/Outer Ring, Deep Blue's P.O.V.

"Ready?" Minty asked her brother in a hushed voice. Deep Blue twisted the rock in his hands, swallowing hard.

"Gonna have to be." He replied. As the patrol men were walking along, Deep Blue pitched the rock away from the crevasse he and his sister were hiding in. It clattered to the floor. Started by the noise, the men ran off, thinking a captive was trying to get away. Minty and Deep Blue took off in the other direction. Looking up, Deep Blue could see Zephyr and Flame sitting on the library roof. Minty followed his gaze and nodded approvingly.

"Looks like Sophia found Tatiana. Good. Everything's going smoothly." Minty panted.

"Hey! You! What are you doing on the walls?" The shout sounded from behind them, freezing them in place.

"Uh oh, we've been spotted! MAKE A BREAK FOR IT!" Athena yelled from behind them. Deep Blue looked over his shoulder and saw several men running towards them, with Athena and Drake a few paces behind. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Keep running!" Drake yelled. "We can't outfight them but we can outpace them! Whatever you do, DO NOT slow down!"

Hana was waiting at the other end. "Drake, that's your cue!" Drake launched his pendulum. The end locked around the edge of the library roof.

"Everyone, hold on tight." Deep Blue squeezed Drake's arm so hard he was surprised he didn't snap it as they flew over six flights of sandstone bridge. Drake released the pendulum and all five of them tumbled through the window and into the library.

"Guys! Hurry!" Sophia cried, watching guards gather. Six exploded into the library and Deep Blue could do nothing but run.

"It's now or never, guys! Get on the roof!" Minty screamed. Deep Blue understood. If they messed this up and failed to escape, the guards would be twice as careful next time. They would never be able to get away. Escape had to be now or it would definitely be never. Pulling onto the roof and helping his sister on after him, Deep Blue looked up at Tatiana's majestic winged spirit.

"Now Tatiana, now!" Zephyr extended his wings and hovered just in front of the roof. Tatiana looked back.

"Everyone on!" She cried. Hana leaped on and helped Sophia get on after him. Deep Blue practically hurtled onto Zephyr's back and looked up. "Minty! It's not far, just jump!" Minty edged towards the end of the roof, an uncertain look on her face.

"They're getting closer!" Athena shouted. The guards were on the roof now and running towards them. In desperation, Athena grabbed Drake and Minty by the arm and leaped aboard, nearly losing her footing.

"Go!" Tatiana cried, and with a snort Zephyr took off, leaving the guards stuck on the roof. With a few flaps of the wings, they left the sandstone building behind. One of the men had succeeded in grabbing Zephyr's leg. Sophia grabbed Athena's lightning sword and smashed his hand repeatedly with it. He let go and fell like a stone.

For a moment, none of the shaman spoke. And then…

"WE'RE OUT! YAHOO!" Sophia squealed in delight. Hana gave his cousin a hug and grinned from ear to ear.

"I'm free." Tatiana looked dazed, as if she thought it were all a dream. "I'm finally free."

"Damn right!" Athena shouted, looking extremely pleased with herself.

"We're out, yeah!" Deep Blue shouted. Minty was so overwhelmed that she didn't speak.

"Before you get too excited, remember we're not totally out of the woods yet." Drake warned them. As Zephyr landed, Deep Blue spilled over the side and kissed the ground. "Skench will probably send search parties after us."

"He can do what he likes, we're NOT going back. Not for anything." Athena declared. "We're getting out of this damn canyon if it's the last thing we do!"

"Yes!" Minty exclaimed. "I'm not going to let this dumb place keep me from my family!"

"Sing with me! There's aint no mountain high enough, aint no valley low enough, aint no river wide enough to keep from you! Yeah there aint no mountain high enough…." With high spirits, the group of friends marched up and down the winding, twisting ledges of the canyon with great purpose, setting a course for home.

"There's only one problem." Drake said suddenly. Deep Blue looked over his shoulder at him.

"What?"

"I have no idea where we are."

/Back at Aegolius

"What? Some kid shaman got away?" Skench's voice was cool and collected..

"Yes sir." The guard replied. "They snuck through a hole in our patrols and used one of their guardian ghosts to fly deeper into the canyon."

"Which ones got away?"

"Sophia and Hana Asakura, Minty and Deep Blue of the Aniu, Athena Tao, Drake Deithel, and Tatiana Odymanta." Skench's eyes narrowed at the names.

"The Odymanta girl has already tried to escape. Did you think that was insignificant? Why didn't you put a guard around her dorm?"

"We had assumed she had learned her lesson." The guards replied quietly.

Skench turned around. "The Asakuras and the Tao were a rare prize, and I expect their immediate recapture. But if you find the others, you have the orders to do what must be done."

The guard paused, but then he spoke. "Very well."

"Round up a search party, find them, and bring them back. Do not fail me, Heath." Heath bowed and left. Skench turned back and looked at a picture of the escapees. "You can't shake me that easily, children."

/Somewhere inside the canyon, Sophia's P.O.V.

Sophia sat down, breathing hard, a frightened expression on her face. The ledge was still crumpling at the edge.

"We're going to have to be more careful around the edges. Are you alright, Sophia?" Hana asked, helping Sophia to her feet.

"Y-Yeah, I'm okay." She replied breathlessly. "I'm okay."

Hana looked upwards, to the top of the rock they were resting on, to where Drake was standing. The homing pendulum was out, and Drake's face was creased with concentration.

"Well? Any luck?" He called. For a moment, Drake didn't reply. Suddenly he slid down and pulled his pendulum back.

"I can't get a direct lock on the place outside this canyon, but we're headed in the right directing. But it's far. There's still something like a week or so journey before we're out of the canyon. And then, hopefully there will be a town or something not to far away and we'll bee able to refresh our supplies and get directions."

Deep Blue's stomach growled. "Did we forget to bring food?" Minty asked anxiously, squeezing her brother's hand in concern.

"No, but we're going to have to try to conserve it. We're a long way from any general store." Tatiana replied, pulling a few apples out of a duffle bag. "We should eat these first, before they go bad."

Everyone took an apple. Sophia crunched on the core and asked "can I take a drink?"

"I'll go with her." Minty carefully lead Sophia down the rock and towards the river that cut through the canyon floor. Food and water were top priorities, but there were some other things to worry about-shelter, weather, and Aegolius patrols. _That's enough for us. _Sophia thought. _Now we finally have a chance at getting home._

"I wonder how far this canyon is from our home." Minty said, as if reading Sophia's thoughts.

"It's gotta be a long ways, I suppose." Sophia replied, splashing her face with nice, cool water. "I mean, if they traveled long distances they would have a chance at losing people who were following them."

"How much longer are we going to have to be running for our lives, our freedom?" Minty sounded far off, as if she was thinking of something else. "How much longer until we can finally cross the boarder and get home?"

"I don't know." Sophia replied quietly. "But I do know that we have to keep going. We can't give up now. We've escaped the main canyon, we can escape this."

Minty managed to smiled. "Yeah." She stood up. "Let's go. We've got ground to cover before it get's dark."

/Several hours later

Sophia sat down, breathless. "The scenery sure doesn't change much. Are you sure we're going in the right direction, Drake?"

"This place is basically a giant bowl." Drake replied quietly. "Everywhere except backwards is the way out."

"I suppose so." Tatiana sat down and broke her ginger snap in two."Here. We can share."

"Thanks, Tatiana." Sophia took a bite and smiled hugely. "I love ginger snaps. Mom bought a bunch of packages once, and I ate the entire contents of one of them before the night was out. She was really annoyed with me after that."

Tatiana giggled. "I remember sneaking brownies at night when I lived at the shelter. Boy, did I get into trouble for that one." They laughed at the memories.

"It's getting late." Athena observed. "I'll do a night shift. You guys rest."

"How about you, Athena? Did you ever get into trouble for something like sneaking cookies?"

Athena shrugged. "No. Well, unless you count the time I ate six pieces of cake during my tenth birthday party. Dad really chewed me out for that."

"SIX pieces?" Minty laughed. "You must have really liked that cake!"

"While mom is bad at making most foods, her cake is the bomb." Athena declared.

"Yup, I remember when she whipped up one for the gathering." Deep Blue licked his lips. "Your mother rules, Athena!"

Everyone chuckled. Sophia walked in a circle before lying down. "Great. It's even colder out here than it is in the main canyon!"

Hana frowned. "She's right." He nuzzled his head into his arms. "It's cold out here."

"We'll sleep in a group." Minty said, dragging Deep Blue over and lying down next to her brother. "Good night."

"Good night."

"Good night. See you in the morning."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 5: Dark Sophia

/Athena's P.O.V.

As Athena lay against the wall of the rocky cave, she couldn't help but to think of her bed back at the house. Every morning Muffins would jump right up, onto her bed, and start nuzzling her until she finally got up. Muffins was like a second alarm clock. Athena remembered distinctly that over six months ago she had hated 7th grade math with a passion. Now that seemed a silly thing to hate, out here, on the run from a nut job who wanted their recapture.

_I wonder what time it is in China…_Athena looked up to the sky. Many stars shone bright against the backdrop of pure black. The moon was halfway full and still waxing. _What am I thinking? This is no time to get homesick…_ Athena put her head in her arms, trying to shake off the sadness she was feeling. That's when she heard voices.

"…damn it to hell, we've been looking for hours and I'm telling you, there's no sign of them!" Athena jerked into alertness and stood up. Several men with torches and fully-prepared oversouls were walking around the canyon, grumbling.

"Oh stop whining, there's only so many places those little brats can hide. We've got patrols all over the canyon. They can't be too far away."

"Yeah, go ahead, shout louder! I'm sure there are a few more runaways that were too far away to catch that!" The leader barked. The other two men grew quiet.

"SO-rry. Gee wiz…" Athena spun around and shook Minty fiercely.

"Everyone get up! Right now! There's a patrol out there, looking for us!" Minty jerked up and shook her brother. Hana's eyes snapped open and he and Sophia got to their feet.

"Already? How did they find us?" Tatiana asked, her voice quivering.

"They haven't seen us yet. Keep to the upper rock formations and for goodness sake be quiet! Drake, lead on. We can't bring a torch." Athena ordered. Drake nodded, and raised his pendulum upwards. Silently they slipped out of the cave and across the stone bridge. The torches the men were holding gave off enough light for Athena to see where she was putting her feet, but not much more than that.

"I have to ask Drake, why are we following these guys?" Hana asked as quietly as he could.

"There's probably a network of patrols searching the area. They'll probably lead to the edge of the canyon. They might even have maps. We'll be able to get out of the canyon faster if we get one of them."

"Good point." Minty grumbled. "Just watch where you step-AHG!" No sooner said than done, Minty took one wrong step, had a ground crumble away below her, and landed smack in the middle of one of the partols.

Athena smacked herself in the face. "Minty, you moron…that's the last time I'm listening to your lectures on safety is your doing something so reckless and stupid…" Deep Blue jumped down after his sister without hesitation. A second later, his friends followed him.

"See what you got us into?" Deep Blue growled. "And you call _me _clumsy!"

"It was an _accident!_" Minty retorted hotly.

"Guys!" Sophia protested. "This isn't the time or place!"

"Well well, look who's here. We were going to look for them…" The men pulled out guns. Drake's eyes widened. _Could it be…? _"…But they came to us."

"LOOK OUT! THEY'RE X-LAWS!" No sooner had those words left Drake's mouth, the guns went off and several giant car-angels flew straight at them.

Hana dove to the right, narrowly avoiding getting cut in half. "So? Got any ideas?"

"Not really!" Athena shouted back. "They have more mana than any one of us!" Sophia's eyes closed. _…Any ONE of us…? …! That's it! _

"Sophia? How long are you going to stand there?" Hana yelled. Sophia blinked. One of the angels was right in front of her.

"Guys! Lend me your mana!"

"What?"

"No time to explain! Just do it!" Sophia cried. Tatiana trustingly stood up and opened her arms.

"Sophia's right." Hana said suddenly, standing up. "We have to give her what we've got at the moment." His eyes closed. "She…is the strongest of us all." Slowly, Athena, Deep Blue and Minty did the same. All at once, Sophia's body burst into flame. Her eyes changed from pink to a deep red, reflecting her anger. Red and cold, colder than stone…

The lead X-Law, none other than Marco himself, recoiled in shock. _Those eyes…those eyes…_Suddenly, Sophia looked exactly like her father had before the ice around his heart had melted.

"I summon you, SPIRIT OF FIRE!" Flame burst out of its tablet. No longer was it the chibied form that he had become to protect its master's daughter from the fire. This was the spirit of fire at the height of its strength. Sophia lifted her arms and swept them around, indicating the warped angels.

"Burn." With a high-pitched screech of battle, the spirit of fire lunged forward and crushed the spirits in his hands, setting them on fire until there was almost nothing left. Dropping the blackened angels, Sophia took a step towards the X-Laws, her eyes still filled with cold fire.

"Don't you EVER mess with my friends again. Do you understand me?" Her voice was sharp and icy.

Marco took several steps backward. "A little mini version of her father. Brilliant, just brilliant." With that, he and the other X-Laws were gone. Suddenly, Flame was back in his chibi form and Sophia had collapsed.

"Sophia?" Tatiana was the first to get to her feet. She helped her friend to her feet. "Are you okay? You weren't yourself…"

"Do you feel different?" Athena pressed. Sophia gave her friends her trademark 'what are you talking about?' face. "Nah. I feel just the same as about ten minuets ago, except maybe hungrier?" Athena slapped her self in the face.

"Sophia, Sophia, Sophia…"

"I'll take that as an I'm okay statement?" Hana chuckled. "Good! Now that we have a map and Sophia's okay! We're outta here."

"MAP? Where did you get-" Hana pointed to a bag one of the X-Laws had dropped. "Oh." Deep Blue looked skyward. "That's where." They set out.

"Uh, guys?"

"What now? The X-Law people aren't coming back, are they?"

"No. Worse."

"Come on, what could be worse than that?"

"Sophia, Athena and Tatiana, none of us have guardian ghosts. We're pretty much useless in battle until we get one!"

"Yeah, that's a problem…"

/dun dun duhhh...! DARK SOPHIA! Hope you enjoy!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The village

"Are we there yet?" Deep Blue asked.

"For the millionth time, NO!" Athena snapped, glancing over Hana's shoulder. "We only have about ten minuets of walking left, but if you say 'are we there yet' every five seconds I am going to go insane!"

"Really, Deep Blue, lay off the 'are we there yet', okay?" Drake asked.

"Fine. I'm just kinda nervous, okay?" Deep Blue muttered.

"So am I." Sophia said, helping Tatiana up the rock. "We all are."

"Sophia's right. We're all a little tired, cranky and nervous from a combination of little sleep and the fact we're almost out of the canyon." Minty said breathlessly. And with those words, it started to rain.

"Great. And the heavens open, right when I thought things couldn't possibly get worse." Tatiana complained.

Hana chuckled softly.

"What?"

"We're here." Sophia looked up. The canyon wall. The shaman looked at each other. Three seconds later they were grasping the rock arches, pulling themselves upwards, the desire to get out, back into the world, driving them on. Finally, Sophia hauled herself over the top and stood up. Fields of grass stretched out towards the horizon. Trees lines the sides, and she could see a herd of wild horses race across the plains further up, near the mountain range. And a little ways away from that, there was a modest village sitting by a pond and a large flower garden. After months of canyon scenery, it took a moment for Sophia to adjust her eyes the many bright colors. Hana dropped his map, eyes widening.

"It's so beautiful." Tatiana murmured.

"No different from when we first saw the outside world." Drake agreed, retracting his pendulum.

"Where are we? I don't recognize this place…" Minty said, peering at the scenery.

"Well, we're out of the canyon!" Athena said. "I vote for heading for the village."

"I'm with you, Athena." Minty said.

"Me too." Sophia chimed in.

"Same here." Deep Blue said.

"Then let's go." Hana said. He trotted across the canyon rim, looking for a safe way down. Drake went with him.

"Hey Tatiana? Can I have a stale bready-thing?" Deep Blue asked. Tatiana pulled one out of her bag.

"Good thing we spotted that village. This is our last bready-thing." She said as she handed it to Deep Blue, who devoured it like a starving jackal.

"But we don't have any money!" Sophia exclaimed. "How are we going to buy it?"

"We'll get temporary jobs." Athena replied. "And we'll stay there for a little. Then we'll get directions and head towards home."

"By the way, which way is home? China or Tokyo?"

"Tokyo." Athena replied. "Dad would come and visit your family at a time like this."

Sophia and Tatiana both nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"Guys!" Hana's voice interrupted whatever Minty was going to say. "Over here! There's boulder flow we can use to get down!" All five of them ran over and started down. Sophia moved from boulder to boulder cautiously.

"Come on Minty! It's easy!" Nervously, Minty slid down onto the first rock and headed slowly downwards. When they all reached the bottom, Athena raised her hand.

"I think we should be proud of ourselves for getting this far without someone else helping us. We escaped the main prison, we outwitted the border guards, and now we're out of the Aegolius canyon completely."

A cheer went up from the shaman. "Now let's get to that village." They took off running. Sophia had never been this excited, even when she was waiting for Christmas eve or a visit from one of her friends. When they stumbled, breathless, to a halt a ways away, a girl who was carrying a pail of water turned around and looked at them.

"Are you shaman runaways?" She asked.

"Yes we are." Sophia replied, panting. She was surprised that the girl knew. "We were trapped there for six months, but we managed to get away."

The girl smiled. "Come on in. My name is Cynthia."

**/In the village**

"Big brother! New kids!" Cynthia called as she lead Sophia and the gang into the house. It was more like a treehouse than anything else, but then again, so was just about everything else in the village. They hadn't seen any grown-ups - all the kids seemed to be eleven and under. In the middle, several boys-the oldest in the village, from the looks of things-were discussing things in hushed voices. A boy-probably twelve years old, like Athena-looked up from the table.

"Welcome." He said. "My name is Bly. From the looks of things, you escaped Skench, like us."

"Yes we did." Drake replied quietly.

"Wait! Everyone in this village is a runaway from Aegolius?" Tatiana exclaimed. "There's so many of you!"

"Some of us escaped sooner than others; some got away in a mass escape, no matter how we got out, we're all escapees: frightened, lonely, and afraid every night of being discovered and taken back to the canyon." Bly replied.

"Then why don't you just leave?" Drake asked. "Aegolius landscape can't go on forever, there must be a way out!"

"Yes, that's true. I can't tell you how much I want to. But we need to get everyone prepared." Bly responded, his eyes darkening. "We need enough supplies, we need to know how long they'll last, and we'll need to be able to hold everyone together. Not all of us get along."

"Some of the kids who escaped are losing faith in getting back home." Another boy stood up and walked over beside Bly. "I'm not accusing anyone of being traitors or double agents, but they might get recaptured. And then, it won't be long before they find us."

"We can't give up yet!" Minty cried. "We can't! If we give up now, we'll lose everything! We have to try tot get away!"

"If you're ever starting to lose courage, think about your family." Sophia pleaded. "It worked for me. They miss us a lot. And we miss them. We've got to go home. We can't stay in this land where people are going to use us as warriors for their own desires. Think of home. I'm sure your family misses you a lot, just like mine."

Cynthia started quivering. "Mommy…" Bly's eyes closed. There was a heavy silence. It was finally broken by Athena and Hana.

"We won't force anyone to come with us." Hana said quietly. "But we're going to try to get out of this place."

"Yes." Athena said. Her fist clenched and her voice began to build, deep and powerful. "I'm going home, and that's all there is to it. And if Skench has a problem with that, well, he can go eat snails for all I care. He thinks he's broken me, broken us, he thinks he has us in complete fear of him and completely under his control, but he is wrong, so, so wrong, I wish I could see the look on his face when he finds out we're long gone, and that he was just fooling himself into thinking he had power over us!"

Sophia looked over her shoulder. Everyone in the village had gathered around, eyes wide, listening with feirce concentration. Athena seemed to notice too, because she turned around, walked out to the balcony, and signaled for the others to come to.

"**For too long have we been treated like slaves, forced to labor for Skench's petty and selfish desires! Too many of us have been stolen from our families, forced to toil without rest! From this moment on, we will break their power and stop him permanently! WE WILL-" **Athena whipped out her sword, lightning struck it, and Rairaicocoon, the giant dragon, threw back his head and let out an earsplitting roar. **"-GET OUR FREEDOM BACK!" **The crowd of kids shouted, raising their hands and roaring their approval!

Sophia was filled with awe. Athena turned around and grinned at her. Light dawned in Cynthia's eyes, and Bly grinned hard. "You sure know how to give an awe-inspiring speech." He said, directing his gaze at Athena. "What's your name?"

"Athena Tao, at your service. And these guys are my friends." She smiled back, a huge, sadistic grin on her face. "Now let's round up the food and blow this seas-pool."

**/Storage block, Sophia's P.O.V.**

"How much do we need to bring again?" Tatiana asked. They were standing in a room full of food parceled everywhere.

"Let's just bring everything here." Cynthia said determinedly. "We've got ground to cover."

Sophia nodded, and straightened up like a solider. "Right!" She loaded baskets of apples, lettuce, bread, frozen meat, and even tarts and bars of chocolate.

"Where's you get the chocolate bars?" Sophia had to ask.

"They were for 'special, hard workers' back at the canyon under Madame Plonk." Cynthia replied sourly. "We saved lots because we were too suspicious to eat them. Luckily, they weren't infected with some kind of drug that made us follow orders, and Bly's friend Joseph tried one out to be sure." Tatiana packaged them straight away.

**/Deep Blue's P.O.V.**

"Brother, hurry up with those water flasks!" Minty shouted.

"I'm filling them as fast as I can!" Deep Blue exclaimed, scooping up water in the flask and running back up the hill. He dropped it into the wooden crate and Minty carted it over to Joseph, who was charting everything.

"Done?" Joseph checked the listings again.

"Almost. Three crates to go." Deep Blue groaned.

**/Hana's P.O.V.**

"Are you okay?" Hana was supposed to be watching the canyon to make sure that no one was watching, but he ended up striking up a conversation with the spirit of a samurai named Rakia. He had seen him on the ridge, crying, so Hana decided to find out what was wrong.

"I'm sorry." Rakia said.

"For what?" Hana asked, mystified.

"Aegolius had been long since used as a prison and a forced labor camp. It ran in the family, straight down to this Skench person who is using you youngsters. I should have left this island and told the overlord what was occurring here when I was alive. I could have shut it down." Rakia replied.

"Hey, this isn't your fault, Rakia. Far from it." Hana paused, and then he added "if you want, and you feel that badly about it, you're welcome to come with me and help us get out of this place."

Rakia blinked, a startled expression on his face. "You don't mind?"

"Of course not!" Hana laughed out loud. "Besides, a powerful samurai is every shaman's dream partner where I come from!"

Rakia smiled weakly. "Thank you, master Hana."

**/Athena's P.O.V.**

"Drake! How's everything going?" Athena called. Drake looked over at her.

"The others are packing everything we need really quickly." Drake replied. "Quite frankly, I'm surprised that their moral revived in an instant. You really know how to speak to people, Athena."

Athena grinned. "I'm just glad I can help. Hey Bly, when do you think we should start out?"

"It's mid morning now." The boy observed. "By the time everything is ready it will probably be noon. We should start off then." Athena flashed him a thumbs up.

"Got it."

**/An hour later**

Sophia and loaded the final crate into the last cart and then squirmed over to Hana, who took her hand. The group of shaman stood completely still, making no move, even to put their hoods up to avoid getting soaked.

Athena walked up front, and turned around. "I know this isn't going to be easy." She said, addressing everyone. "In fact, it's going to be the hardest thing any one of us is ever going to go through. But no matter what happens, we must not give up. Think of how many of us are fighting, and why. Then we will escape or fight our way back, no matter what, WE WILL GET HOME! **LET'S MOVE OUT!" **A shout of agreement surged form the other kids. They left, heading for the mountain range. Not breaking stride, the large group of kid shaman were heading towards the horizon. Many minds, but one goal: _HOME!_


	7. Chapter 7

**disclaimer: I own nothing **

Chapter 7

Sophia sighed. _I'm tired. And here I was hoping that this was going to be as simple as strolling down the road to the beach and taking off into the waters…_She and a group of the other girls in her age group, along with her childhood friend Mara, had taken a different route from the other groups through the mountain range. This plan had been devised by Bly to confuse pursuing patrolmen.

"And I thought we were out of the climbing areas when we left the outer canyon." Tatiana sighed.

"PHIA! TATI! MARA!" Chibi, a five-year-old shaman, was scrambling over towards them. She couldn't pronounce Sophia and Tatiana's names very well, so she called them Phia and Tati.

"What's wrong?" Sophia asked.

"Dillon's eating the choco bars again!" Chibi whined. Sophia smacked herself in the forehead. This was the second time Dillon was sneaking food.

Cynthia groaned, grabbed her hammer and shouted "DILLAN!" The boy ran up from the back of the group .

"Yes?"

"I've told you three hundred times by now you're not allowed to take food without permission! That has to last until we either get back or find another source of food! You baka!" Cynthia exploded, exasperated. She whacked him over the head with her hammer.

"Do I have to hold your hand until we get to the beach, Dillon?" Mara asked dryly.

"No, you don't!" Dillon protested. "I'm fine, I'm trustworthy!"

"Prove it, then, stop sneaking food." Tatiana said.

Sophia nodded. "Yes! We need to eat as well. Try to control yourself, okay?"

"Y-yes, Sophia!" Dillon straightened up. He was dressed like a patch, and he often got all wide-eyed and moony when Sophia talked to him, reprimand or no.

"Well guess what? You get to hold my hand anyway." Mara grabbed Dillon's hand and called for the group to start walking again.

"Okay. I'll learn…" Dillon looked back at Sophia, admiring her. The real reason he had stolen the chocolate bars was so he had an excuse to hang around his super-adorable group leader. And she was even cuter when she was annoyed with him.

Sophia looked over at him. "Will you please not stare at me?" She asked. "It's embarrassing…"

Dillon's her jerked up. "Sorry, Sophia."

"Sophia!" Sophia's eyes brightened.

"Rakia!" Her cousin's guardian spirit was hovering among the rocks.

"You have about three more days of walking!" The samurai informed her.

"Thanks!" Rakia vanished. Sophia spun around, faced her group and flashed her famous everything-is-going-to-work-out smile.

"YAY! Did you guys here that? Only three days! We got the shortest route! Let's get to the beach!" Sophia scampered up the ridge. Dillon, lovesick, darted after her. The rest scrambled to keep up.

**/Hana's P.O.V., day 2**

"You knew that straight through was the fastest way, didn't you Hana?" Joseph asked, matching pace with his leader.

"Well, not really. It was a educated guess." Hana admitted. "I wanted them to get to the beach as soon as possible."

"Any particular reason why?" Joseph asked.

"Well, mostly because kids aged 5 to 9 don't like walking for over a week straight. But…"

"But what? You're welcome to tell me or not, you know."

"Thanks. Something that happened in the Aegolious outer canyon that got me concerned. We were attacked by X-Laws, and Sophia absorbed our mana to fight them. That's when the freaky stuff started happening. The spirit of fire suddenly tripled in size, and Sophia was surrounded by fire and she wasn't burned. Her eyes were hard, pitiless and cold like stone. She threw those guys aside with one blow. It was frightening. She was suddenly so dangerous and intimidating. After they ran away, Sophia returned to normal, and she didn't seem to be aware of what she just did."

"That explains it." Joseph said quietly.

"Yeah. I didn't want her to have another encounter with those X-Laws, so I sent her on what was hopefully the shortest and least obvious route." Hana finished. "I figured that kids her age would listen to her, so I talked Athena into sending them with her and Tatiana."

"Isn't Tatiana an orphan she met in the workplace?" Joseph asked curiously.

"Yeah, but Sophia treats her like a twin sister. They do everything together. It's kinda cute."

"Maybe you should talk your uncle into adopting her when you get back."

"Maybe." Hana agreed. "Sophia would love that." He nodded to Rakia while Joseph turned around and called for their group to pick up the pace. _Ten days to go._

**/Athena's P.O.V., day 5**

"Hey Bly." Athena glanced at her companion.

"Yeah?" Bly waited for her to continue.

"I wanna know, what happened to you when you got snatched? How'd you get out?"

Bly paused. "Well, my parents were at a press conference, and they told me to pick up Cynthia and wait for them at the house. When we were walking through the alley towards our street, those thugs jumped on us out of no where. One of them drugged me and I passed out. Before I even registered what was going on, I was in Aegolious, I was given a coat and a number, and told to keep the furnaces burning by shoveling coal in."

"That sounds like hard work." Athena said sympathetically. "I let them get me on purpose."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I had locked my brother into my closet in my room, and if I didn't, they would have gotten both of us. Someone had to stay behind with mom and dad."

"I see." Bly said, his gaze softening. "That's very noble of you."

Athena smiled shyly. "Thanks." Going back to escaping, she continued "When Tatiana told us about the flecks and Skench's plan, I knew we had to go, and I shoved the escape all into the same night. Deep Blue and Minty threw some rocks down the sandstone bridges to make it sound like someone was trying to run away from downstairs. Then we all ran down the hall. Turns out that we made a bit of a racket, so we had guards on our tails. Drake used his pendulum to get us to the library tower, where Sophia, Tatiana and her guardian ghost, Zephyr, were waiting. We all got onto Zephyr, and he flew off to the canyon." Then she added "how did you and Cynthia get away?"

"That was quick work." Bly observed. "I took a slower approach to it, recruiting other kids, getting on the overseer's good side, getting a good idea of where I was and the weakest points of the patrolled areas perfect for escape. There was a thunderstorm that night, and that helped. We snuck out towards the right wing, and took out the guards there. Cynthia let down a rope, and one by one we slid down. Then we navigated the maze of walls towards the front gate. We had just smashed the chain when light shone on us and patrol men threw themselves at us. Other kids and patrolmen got involved and soon it turned into an all-out riot. During that time, we snuck away and ran into the canyon like our lives depended on it. We regrouped on the rim, got into that clearing of grass and forged a village, and over time we were joined by other refugees. Then it was about two years later, you and your friends showed up and renewed our spirit and courage. We were finally ready to get home. We just needed the right kind of leader." Bly looked into Athena's eyes and smiled. "Like you."

"We shucks." Athena smiled awkwardly. "I didn't realize I was that inspiring."

"Life is full of surprises." Bly said softly. He took her hand. "I'll help you."

"Thanks Bly." Athena sat down next to her new friend, surrounded by new companions, watching the sun set.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King**

Chapter 8

**/Skench's base**

"What happened, Marco?" Skench's voice was low with disgust. "You crawl back here after losing to those kids, and expect me to let you out again? I hear from Heath you want to destroy Hana and Sophia."

"They deserve it, their children of that demon," Marco spat, eyes burning. Skench pressed a button, and a hundred bolts of electricity shot through Marco. The X-Law fell to his knees.

"When I said I wanted them alive, that's exactly what I meant. I will not let your little 'holier than thou' concepts get in the way of my plans." Skench growled.

"Having trouble?" A female voice sounded from the entrance.

Skench smirked. "Ah, hello miss. Seeing you here must mean that you've trapped the children on the seashore."

"Yes I have." The blonde-haired girl said. "The Spirit of Water is struggling against its bonds, and is whipping up waves. They won't be leaving any day soon."

"Please. All seals are breakable, they'll still get away." Marco hissed scornfully. "Those children have proven themselves resourceful and clever. I've seen your little spell binds. Even children their age could break them."

"That's where you're wrong." The blond said, her voice soft and cold. "These beads are indestructible."

Marco's eyes widened. "You're-!"

The girl smirked. "Yes I am." She turned her back on them and left the room. "Yoh Asakura…you'll pay for choosing that girl over me."

**Deep Blue's P.O.V.**

Drake was once again using his homing pendulum to scan the horizons of the mountain range. Deep Blue knew that he was trying to figure out exactly how much farther to the seashore. His feet ached and he felt weary of walking. After nine days, he was absolutely sure of three things: 1) Sophia had gotten to the beach. 2) He was supremely jealous of her for getting the shortest route. 3) He felt like they were being watched.

_No really_. Deep Blue sighed. _Don't be such a cliché. You left the Aegolius thugs in the dust when you left the inner canyon. Stop getting paranoid._

He was enjoying the silence when a low, keening sound reached his ears. Deep Blue blinked. The cry reminded him of a whale's call, butt it sounded different, like a cry of pain from an aquin spirit. _But I'm far away from the beach. What could it be?_

"Drake?" Drake looked over his shoulder at Deep Blue.

"What is it?" His friend blinked in confusion.

"Do you hear that?" The Aniu asked cautiously.

"Here what?"

"That cry. It sounds sorta like an ocean spirit." Drake paused.

"I don't hear anything. Are you sure it isn't just a figment of your imagination?"

"Positive!" Deep Blue protested.

"I can hear it too." Minty's voice sounded from behind them. Deep Blue turned around and saw his sister staring out towards the water, her face creased with concentration. "Do you think it's the Spirit of Water?"

"Another Great Spirit? This makes four and we're no where near Patch Village!" Deep Blue exclaimed. "You really think that's it?"

"No, I'm talking for the pleasure of hearing my own voice." Minty snapped.

"Sorry." Deep Blue cringed, and waited for her to blow up at him. But she didn't.

"Listen to it." Minty said softly. "It sounds like it's hurt."

Deep Blue blinked again, and closed his eyes. That low call echoed through his mind, and sure enough, it sounded like it was in deep agony.

"What could possibly be causing it pain?" He asked, glancing at his sister.

"Maybe a binding spell?" Minty suggested.

"Maybe." Drake agreed quietly. "Most binding spells involve beads. Maybe these beads are sapping its strength and cutting into it. That might be the reason."

"A spirit in agony." Deep Blue winced at the thought. "We should get everyone moving. I wonder if Sophia knows it's down there."

**/Sophia's P.O.V.**

"THE BEACH!" Sophia was ecstatic. The seashore. That meant home was closer than ever before. And that was perfect! "YESSSS!"

The other kids gathered around her, jumping about. "Yay! Yay! Yay!"

"We did it!" Sophia spun around and beamed at her spirit. "Isn't that the greatest thing ever?"

"Chibi happy!" The little girl jumped up and down and around. "Chibi hasn't been this happy since snatched!"

Tatiana hugged Chibi and then Sophia. Amid the cheering, Sophia heard something. "Huh?" She turned her head towards the water.

That same mournful howl sounded from below the surface of the water. _A spirit!_

Sophia's thoughts were distracted by more happy shouting. She turned around and got hugged by Athena, who had appeared from the ridge with her group. "We're here." She said breathlessly.

"Athena!" Sophia nuzzled her. Then she looked up and asked, "do you hear that?"

"Hear wha…? Oh!" Athena stood up and stared across the water. "A water spirit…?"

Both shaman stood in silence. "You hear that too, right?"

Sophia nodded vigorously.

"It's the great spirit of water." A voice sounded from behind them, making them both jump. Dillon had slipped away from the group and joined them. "It's being bound by the 1080 spirit beads. It's normally a very peaceful spirit, but it hates being confined. That's why it's making a racket, and throwing up all those giant waves." He nodded as one of the huge waves crashed against the surf. "It hopes one of us will free it."

"Dillon! You scared me!" Sophia exclaimed, shaken. "And what do you mean, the 1080 Asakura beads? Didn't dad…destroy them?"

"Yes. Hao shattered the beads during the battle in front of the great spirit." Dillon replied. Sophia had never seen him so serious. "Someone must have had enough time on their hands to pick up all the tiny pieces and re forage it." His eyes narrowed. "But who would…?"

"Well, if the waves stay like this, there's no way we'll get out of here." Athena paused. "Let's wait until Deep Blue gets here. He's an ice shaman, he might be able to help the Spirit of Water without hurting it."

"Can he undo the bind of the 1080?" Dillon asked dubiously.

"Sure he can. With a little help from us." Sophia replied brightly.

**/Author' s note: Horray! Another chapter! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW, and no flames please!**

**Disclaimer: I STILL do not down Shaman King. (but I wish I did)**

Chapter 9


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I STILL do not down Shaman King. (but I wish I did)**

Chapter 9

"I have to WHAT?" Deep Blue freaked. Hana had explained the situation to him, and it freaked him out. "How are you expecting me to get that powerful bind off?"

"It's not impossible, Deep Blue." Cynthia pointed out. "We're going to help you."

"No way!"

"Deep Blue, please!" Sophia gave him a wide-eyed puppy dog expression. "If the spirit of water remains chained, the waters will be too dangerous to travel in to get off the island and towards home! We'll be trapped here, and then _they _might catch up…"

Deep Blue looked upwards, trying to resist the Sophia cuteness. Did I ever mention Sophia cuteness was irresistible?

"Okay fine." Deep Blue caved. But who wouldn't? "But how am I going to release it?"

"I'll fly you to where its trapped, but the rest is up to you." Tatiana said. Zephyr appeared in a flash of light, and he brought Tatiana and Deep Blue over the ocean about a mile out. "Be careful Deep Blue." The ice shaman took a deep breath, and dove into the water.

**/Deep Blue's P.O.V.**

The first thing Deep Blue noticed was that the water was cold, unusually cold. The Spirit of Water was giant. It looked very much like the Spirit of Fire, but it was blue, the lines on its body were green and its horns were blunt and angled downwards. The 1080 beads were wrapped around its arms and midsection, chaining it to the seafloor. The clasp was in the middle of its chest. The spirit raised pleading golden eyes up to Deep Blue.

_Whoa…_Deep Blue swam lower, towards the clasp. He grabbed on with both hands and pulled hard. It wouldn't budge. He pulled harder. There was a crackling noise, the clasp shifted but didn't release. Deep Blue's lungs began to hurt. The spirit uttered another low keening call, this time out of concern.

_Look…_Deep Blue locked eyes with the spirit, trying to communicate with it. _I need you to pull up with everything you've got! If the 1080 are under strain, getting this thing off will be easier! Help me!_

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind, the Spirit of Water suddenly lunged for the surface, putting all its energy into pushing upwards. The 1080 beads strained under the spirit's movements, trying to hold it down and barely succeeding. Deep Blue planted his feet on the Spirit of Water's hands and gave the clasp one final yank. It snapped up and the 1080 came loose. Deep Blue tumbled backwards into the spirits hands while it rocketed towards the surface.

The spirit broke the surface and the sea calmed immediately. Deep Blue flopped down, trying to draw air into his tortured lungs. The spirit put him down on the beach. And then it shrank.

"It chibied itself…" The spirit nuzzled Deep Blue, uttering low happy chirrup noises.

Sophia giggled. "Look, Deep Blue! It likes you!"

Minty gave Deep Blue a memorial tablet and nodded. "It feels a connection. So bro, what do you think of your new guardian ghost?"

Deep Blue looked the spirit over. "…Nice…now I control the weather!"

"You control the water." Bly corrected. "Either way, it's a good thing we let it go. Now will you kindly help the rest of us build our dingies?"

"Oh, right!"

**/several hours later**

Deep Blue flopped over. "Man, this work is backbreaking."

"Stop complaining." Athena snorted. "This is easy."

"For you, maybe. But you didn't spend ten minuets underwater earlier."

"Doing that kind of thing makes you stronger. Now your lungs are more powerful than before. Consider it to be sorta like a training period."

"Oh really?" Deep Blue thought of the crushing agony in his lungs as he struggled to undo the clasp. "Anyway, only the battle rafts are left. We'd better hurry up." Athena finished.

"Right." Deep Blue sighed and joined Sophia and Tatiana over by a battle raft.

"Who do you think did it?" Sophia was asking Tatiana when Deep Blue came into earshot.

"The 1080 Asakura beads are really powerful, so it takes a strong mind to wield them, so I'm _guessing _that whoever trapped it there was an ikato who worked for your family."

"But why would someone who worked for grandpa want to trap us on this island?" Sophia asked, eyes wide. Tatiana shrugged.

"Hey girls. What are you talking about?" Deep Blue grabbed a birch rope and began winding it around the logs to hold them in place.

"The beads that were binding the Spirit of Water." Tatiana replied without looking up from her work. "The 1080."

"Yeah? What about them?"

"We're trying to figure out who did it." Sophia declared.

"I suppose that would be helpful in our lawsuit when we get back to Tokyo." Deep Blue muttered.

"You're going to fill in a lawsuit?" Tatiana was surprised.

"We were _kidnapped, _Tatiana. All of us were. And how many kids are still in the main canyon? Hundreds? Thousands, maybe! And the way they treated us is a definite no-no. Think of what they fed us up there. Hardly a balanced diet, and kids can get serious illnesses from that! To them we're no more than tools. Don't you _think _we should alert the government about what's happening there? Then we can send Mr. Everyone-except-myself-are-fools-and-need-to-be-controlled to Alcatraz until his teeth shatter and he's freaking 180 years old. Athena probably had this in mind even before we reached the beaches."

"To prison?" Sophia looked up at him.

"Sophia, this guys inducing kidnapping, child labor and abuse on a huge scale, and he intends to use us as soldiers.. He's going to get arrested."

"Oh." Sophia blinked. "Right…can kids our age fill in lawsuits?"

"If we can't, I'll ask dad or someone else to do it for us." Deep Blue growled. "He's not going to get away with this. I promise you…and neither is the near-sighted person who chained the Spirit of Water under the surface to trap us."

Tatiana put a box of fruit on top of the raft and began tying it down. "I can't wait to get out of here. But how long will paddling take to get us there?"

"Tatiana, who said we were going to paddle the whole way?" Deep Blue smirked. "Me and my new guardian ghost are going to make BIG waves that are going to get us there in half the time!"

Sophia ran over and hugged him! "You're a genius!" Deep Blue giggled and hugged her back.

"Thanks Sophia. I try."

Athena walked over. "Two hours to launch time." She announced. "You guys ready to tackle the open seas?"

"Like hell." Deep Blue said with a smirk.

**/Skench's base**

"Absolutely not." Skench growled. "They must not leave the shores. Anna, I trust you'll be able to stop them?"

"Not a problem." Anna replied coolly.

"Like we can trust you." Marco growled.

"No fighting!" Heath ordered, stepping between them. "The kids are top priority. I say let's send the X-Laws with her."

Skench frowned. Then his chair turned around. "I want them alive, understand, Marco? I want them ALIVE."

**/Hana's P.O.V.**

Hana had been working diligently for hours, carving paddles for every second kid there using the knife he had found in the survival kit Bly had given him. One of the ice shaman's father was a shipyard man, and he had memorized the blueprints for the wooden dingy. The kids had created five, which was, thankfully, enough to hold all of them and most of their food. The plan was to have the dingys go out, and have several rafts attacked to them. That's where shaman who had spirit mediums would stay and fight off any attacks. Bly was pretty smart for a kid his age.

_Almost there. Almost there. _Hana thought, looking out across the sea. _Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. _He could wait. He could work. Driven solely by his desire to get home, Hana handed his next paddle to Drake, who brought it to Joseph. It was then set on the dingy.

"That's good, Hana. You can stop." Hana looked up at the girl who had spoken. It was Seria, a fire shaman who lived in downtown Tokyo.

"Thanks for telling me Seria. How long until launch?"

"Thirty minuets." Seria replied. Hana started making calculations out loud.

"Thirty minuets, carry the time we're in the ocean…we'll _probably _be home by Easter."

Seria's eyes brightened. "Easter. I love Easter."

"So do I!" Hana said brightly. "Do you believe in the Easter bunny?"

"Heck yes! He always leaves me a great big chocolate bunny, and there's no way in the eight rings of hell I'm going to miss it this year!" Seria declared.

Hana smirked. "Yeah. Same here." They started heading for the beach from the treeline when suddenly Chibi sounded the alarm.

"X-LAWS! X-LAWS!" She scurried through the area. "X-LAWS ARE COMING!" The good thing about Chibi was you could count on her to let you know when there was trouble. That girl practically had eyes on the back of her head.

Hana met up with Athena, who was standing with about twenty other kids who had managed to sneak spirit mediums into Aegolius in a defensive row facing the enemy. Along with them was a girl with blonde hair. And she was holding…

"Athena! Look!"

"I see them, Hana." Athena's eyes narrowed. The girl was holding the 1080 Asakura beads.

"So she's the one who tried to trap us on shore." Deep Blue growled.

"Listen up, kids." The girl spoke up, walking to the front lines. "If you surrender right here and now, you won't get hurt. If you fight, you will. Either way, you're going back to the canyon."

"Not even in your dreams, maniac!" Minty shot back, eyes blazing. "We're not going back."

All four great spirits appeared-Wind, Fire, Water, and Lightning. Athena smirked. "You wanna party?" She asked tauntingly, staring down the girl. "Then let's party!" Her dragon shot forward towards the angels.

During the fighting, Hana saw the girl muttering something, eyes on the Spirit of Fire. It hit them; she was going to try to bind the spirits and leave his friends defenseless. Rakia integrated with his knife and Hana intercepted the beads, causing one of them to crack. The girl whipped around. "You!" She seethed. Hana took a step back to ready himself. The girl circled him like a hungry vulture. "I hated you from the moment you were born." She growled.

"Why?" Hana asked quietly.

"Because…you were supposed to be MY child, Hana Asakura!" The girl snapped. She ran her fingers through Hana's black hair. "Black." She growled low and deep. "Once upon a time, I was engaged to your father, and for years I lived with him and loved him." She went on.

"I've never heard of you." Hana mumbled.

"I'm not surprised." She hissed. "He never talked about me after he fell in love with that half-demon!"

"You mean mom." Hana said, feeling a flash of anger at the words _half-demon. _

"Yes, I mean Shinigami. The one who took everything from me. Words could not describe how much pain I was in, watching him laugh with her and kiss her." The girl's pupils were dilated in rage. "He broke off our engagement and married her my place. How do you think I felt! Almost nothing I could do to him would make him suffer so. Who do you think messed up the traffic lights when they were on the road a year ago?"

Hana's eyes widened. A year ago, his mother got caught in a car crash and was seriously injured. Thankfully she survived mostly unscathed, but the thought of causing her so much pain on purpose… "You…?"

"The paramedics were able to save Shinigami then, but she isn't here. But you are." The girl fixed her eyes on Hana. "If I trap you here, on his prison island, Yoh will know my pain."

"You're insane!" Hana shouted. "Why can't you let us be happy? If you really love father, that should be all that matters!"

"No! What matters is that we're together, not apart!" The girl picked up the 1080 and began making a spirit bind. Hana was trapped.

"Hana!" A giant red hand appeared out of no where and swatted the girl aside. She flew against a tree and lost her focus, and so the bind came undone. Sophia ran down her guardian's arm and threw her arms around Hana. "You're okay!"

"Thanks, Sophia." Hana looked for his attacker, but she was gone. So he and his cousin ran back to the beaches.

**Author's note: Horray! Another chappy! REVIEW! I NEED REVIEWS TO CONTIUE! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: You know the drill by now**

Chapter 10: Into the ocean

**/Athena's P.O.V.**

"Load the dingys!" Bly's rally woke Athena from her nap. She immediately got up and ran down the plank. The boats were simple, really, and rather old-fashioned, but they could take the kids and their gear across the sea to Tokyo Bay. Athena ran down the boarding plank to her friend.

"You've chosen the oarsmen?" She asked.

"Yeah." Bly nodded. "Different kids will paddle on different days. Take the survival kit to the bow for me, will you? The cargo holds are ready to be filled, but we need the compass up front."

"Sure thing." Athena smiled at Bly and picked up the kit and headed for the lead dingy. After spending all this time with him, she had found herself developing a powerful crush on Bly, which was odd in a way, you'd think she had other thoughts considering the situation they were in.

_I still think he's cute. _Athena thought with a secretive smile as she plunked the kit down next to the bow watchman's chair. _I wonder what he thinks of me. _She turned around to see Sophia and Tatiana dragging several food crates down into the hold and reappearing a few seconds later.

"Hi Athena! Can you help us with these, please?" Sophia gazed pleadingly at her. Athena chuckled at the girl's little kitten expression.

"Sure."

"Thanks!" Sophia bounded down the steps and to the crates. Minty handed her some and she bounced back up to the hold. Up and down again and again, always ready to bound down the planks.

"Where does she get all that energy from?" Athena wondered out loud as she took a crate from Minty and headed up to the hold.

**/An hour later**

When Drake tied the final raft to the rails of the dingy, he flashed the all-done signal towards the deck of the boat, which was filled with chatting shaman sitting on wooden boxes. "Dingy one is loaded, boarded and ready to roll!"

Hana waved from his dingy. "Dingy two is in standby!"

Deep Blue and Minty waved from theirs. "Dingy three is awaiting signal!"

Drake waved from his. "Dingy four is prepared!

And finally Joseph gave a hand signal from his. "Dingy five awaiting signal!"

Bly nodded to Athena. "Let's fly." Rairaicocoon let out a long howl, and lightning flashed the a clear evening sky. The ropes holding the dingy to the cliffs were severed, and the oarsmen put their paddles in the water and began to pull. The bow broke the calm surface of the ocean as the dingys left the bay and headed for the open seas.

Sophia was hyper as ever. "We're moving! We're moving!"

Tatiana was practically in tears. "We're out. For real." As the dingys fell into formation and headed for the sunset, the meaning of Tatiana's words was clear: They were off the island. They were away from the canyon. Tokyo Bay awaited.

**/Athena's P.O.V.**

Athena leaned against the rails, feeling very pleased with herself and her companions, most of whom were under the roof eating snack before bed. Escaping the main canyon, outwitting the patrolmen, rallying the other escapees together, and finally, building ships and rafts and setting sail? Houdini, eat your heart out! She smirked, staring out across the water, the only other noise being gentle waves breaking over the bow. Schools of fish swam curiously around the bottom of the dingy, and she could even see a whale a ways away. The sunset gleamed off the waters, making them glow a golden red-blue.

"I love watching the sun set over the water." A voice broke the silence, and Athena looked up to see Bly standing next to her. The white-haired boy was gazing at the scenery, blue eyes reflecting the golden red light. "Mom would take me and Cynthia up to our cottage on the seashore every summer. I'd stay up for hours to see this."

"Yeah. It's even better over water than it is over the mountains." Athena replied.

"The Taos still live in that remote area?"

"Some of the time, mostly for sentimental reasons, or for training. When we're not living there, we live in the nearby village palace."

Athena felt Bly's cool hand slid into hers and fought a blush. "Hana thinks we'll get to Tokyo Bay before, or on, Easter." He said.

"Easter. I love that holiday." Athena said softly. Then she went on, "I sure hope the police or some child-aid organization will get the Chinese and British kids home, because there's no way I can afford 60-70 airplane tickets! Heck no!"

Bly chuckled. He seemed much more relaxed now that he was off the island. "I know."

There was a several minuet silence. Athena blushed at their closeness. "Bly…?"

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

Another awkward silence stretched out for a few more minuets. "What is it, Athena?" Bly's eyes softened. "You look strained."

"W-well, there's something I wanna-" Athena stopped there, to shy and frightened to continue.

"Yeah?" Bly prompted, looking into her eyes.

Athena looked down, blushing. Bly must have noticed, because he promptly smiled.

"Hey…Athena?"

"Yeah? What is i-" Whatever else Athena was going to say was abruptly cut off when Bly kissed her. It happened quickly, but it felt like forever. Whether it was eternity or an instant, Bly broke away soon, too soon as far as Athena was concerned.

Bly put his arms around Athena's neck and back, smiling as he felt Athena grab hold of him, her fingers digging into his sides, as if she had been starving from lack of affection.

"Bly…" Athena's voice was barely audible.

"Everything's going to be okay now…" Bly smiled again and gazed out across thee water.

**/Sophia's P.O.V.**

"Boy oh boy I'm tired!" Sophia announced, flopping down on her cot. "All that rowing and lifting and carrying crates was exhausting!"

"I gotta agree with you there." Tatiana said, sitting down next to her.

"I love being in a boat on the ocean." Sophia said, glancing out towards the stern of the dingy. "The water is beautiful."

"It sure is. I love going to the beaches." Tatiana sighed.

"What's wrong?" Sophia asked, looking at her friend in concern.

"I was just thinking about when we get to Tokyo Bay. I'll be going back to that orphanage…"

"No, you don't have to go onee-chan…you can stay with me! Mommy could adopt you…"

"You really…?"

"Of course…onee-chan…" With that, Sophia fell asleep. Tatiana rolled her eyes.

"Sophia, how can you fall asleep on a topic like this…" Nevertheless, she pulled the wooly blanket over her sister and smiled. Then Tatiana lay down on her cot and counted the waves breaking against the ship until sleep finally claimed her.

**/the next day**

Sophia got up bright and early, cheerful as ever. "I'm UP!" She announced, jumping to her feet and rushing out onto the deck. Dawn had broken and the other shaman rolled over and got up and the sound of her cheerful voice. Her eyes scanned the crowd and she saw the one she wanted to talk to.

"Dillon! Can I borrow you for a second?" The patch boy jumped at her voice and spun around.

"Y-Yes, Sophia! How can I help you?"

"Do you have your hawk spirit with you?" Sophia asked.

"I do." Dillon nodded, as Silver Wing appeared and sat on his arm.

"Hi Silver Wing." Sophia held out a bundle. "Would you please bring this to mommy and daddy for me?"

"Sure thing." Silver Wing took the letter firmly in his beak, and Dillon gave him the signal. The hawk swept out over the water at surprising speed.

"Thanks Dillon." Sophia hugged him. "Thanks a lot."

Dillon went red at the face. "You're welcome, Sophia-chan…"


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I. do. not. own. Shaman. King. OKAY?**

**Chapter 11: Tokyo Bay in sight**

**/In Tokyo, Li's P.O.V.**

Li was sitting in the living room when he saw the hawk. It was sitting on the railing, looking expectantly at him. He opened it and the hawk swept in.

"I have a letter for Hao and Tamao Asakura. Are they home?" The spirit asked.

"I'm here." Hao stepped out of the next room. The hawk placed the letter in his hand.

"It's from your daughter." Hao's eyes snapped open.

"Sophia wrote to us?"

The hawk bobbed his head up and down, nodding yes in a bird-like fashion. "I don't mean to be rude, but master Dillon is expecting me. I hope to see you again soon." With that the spirit flew back out the window.

Tamao and Shinigami appeared from the kitchen at the mention of Sophia, and Yoh, Lyserg, Horohoro and Ren careened down the stairs right behind them.

"A letter from Sophia?" Yoh demanded, peering over his twin's shoulder. Sure enough, the letter was composed of Sophia's somewhat clumsy, large printing:

Hi mom, dad, uncle Yoh and Aunt Shinigami;

You're probably wondering where we are right now. All I can tell you is that we're in the pacific ocean, heading for Tokyo Bay. There are a lot of Shaman my age on the five dingies I helped make, among them being Hana, Athena, Deep Blue, Minty, Drake, and some new friends: Tatiana onee-chan, Bly, Cynthia, Seria, and Dillon-kun, who's messenger hawk brought you this letter. We were kidnapped by thugs from a forced-labor place called Aegolius, which is on an island North-east or something like that from Tokyo. We'll explain in detail when we get home. There are a lot lot of other shaman escapees with us, and we're heading for home. Yes, we're being chased by those thugs, but don't worry. Four of the Great Spirits are on our side. Deep Blue said he can protect us alone with the Spirit of Water, but I think he's just bragging. No matter, I'll still help him. You can expect us back by Easter at the latest.

I love you,

Sophia.

"Back by Easter?" Ren was flabbergasted. "All of them? Athena?"

Li stood in his tiptoes and read the letter again. He had seen Sophia's printing before, and he was sure it was her.

"I'm going to Tokyo Bay." Shinigami announced, and before anyone could say anything, she and Tamao vanished out the door.

**/Sophia's P.O.V.**

Sophia sat next to Tatiana and Cynthia at the oars, paddling onwards. "This is hard!" She said to no one in particular.

"Yes it is." Cynthia admitted. "It takes a while to get used to it."

"I wish Deep Blue could recharge his mana faster." Sophia complained. "We'd be moving faster with giant waves carrying us. Do you know how many miles are left?"

"I wish I did." Tatiana replied honestly. Then Deep Blue appeared from the cabin.

"I'm ready!" He announced cheerfully. Immediately the oras were pulled on deck and the kids all scuttled around and tied themselves to the masts.

"Guys! We've got company!" Joseph yelled. Several motorboats were right behind them. And who should be manning the lead one but the blond girl from a few days ago.

Seria let out a loud hiss of exasperation, from her post between Sophia and Hana. "WILL YOU GIVE IT UP, YOU STUPID CREEPS?"

"Come on, Deep Blue. Work your magic." Athena and Minty said the same thing at the same time.

Deep Blue smirked. "With…pleasure." The spirit of water appeared in its giant form, and the water churned furiously. Deep Blue raised his arms upwards and yelled, "Water arise!" the waves suddenly doubled in size and churned violently. Then, one wave -much larger than the others, around 120 feet- surged up from below the ships. Deep Blue pulled his arms back, his eyes narrowing. "Hold on tight!" The wave began to move faster and faster, heading out and away from their pursuers. Then it broke. Sophia gripped her stomach as they hurtled forward and dizzying speed. She felt sick as a dog.

"That fast enough?" Deep Blue yelled.

"Sure!"

"Obviously!"

"**Faster!" **Another shaman yelled over the others.

"Okay!" Deep Blue yelled back.

"Wait! WHAA!" Sophia shrieked as another 120 footer picked up the ships and practically threw them forward. She hung onto Hana for dear life as this process repeated itself five more times.

"It's like a roller coaster out of control!" Cynthia shrieked in delight. "Keep doing it, Deep Blue!"

"How is that fun? I'm gonna throw up!" Tatiana and Sophia's protests were ignored, and a 200-footer formed. For a moment, everything seemed to be frozen in time. Sophia spat out three mouthfuls of sea water and stared. The reason they weren't moving is because Deep Blue was making the wave bigger. Now, at 300 feet above sea level, she could see remarkably far out.

Deep Blue smirked. "See that?" On the sunset-streaked horizon, there were several other boats, all headed for port.

Bly broke the silence. "Tokyo Bay."

Deep Blue turned around and looked at his fellow shaman. "Well? Shall we go?"

An uncontrollable smile appeared on Athena's face. "Yes. Yes, Deep Blue! Give all the mana you've got left!"

"Bigger! Faster!" Seria screamed happily.

"GO GO GO!" Sophia cried. Home. Home, so close. After more than a year away, it was like standing on the boarder to heaven.

The giant wave broke. For a second Sophia thought she'd cough up her insides. They were moving with such momentum, such speed, she was surprised they didn't flip their ships. It was almost like hitting mach five, except this wasn't a space ship or a supersonic jet or a racecar. This was Deep Blue's power. If Sophia hadn't been hyper about getting home, or clutching her gut from the speed, she would have been greatly impressed.

Finally, the speed died down. Sophia unclasped herself and fell the deck, trying very hard not to retch. Her arms felt like jelly and she didn't have the power to stand up. So she just lay there for a few minuets.

"Gagh…you know everything I said about roller coasters being too fast for me? I take it all back." Hana wheezed.

"That was so awesome." Cynthia panted.

"I don't know if 'awesome' is the term I would use." Tatiana said, slowly getting up and pulling Sophia to her feet. They were drifting now, but that went unnoticed. Sophia, Tatiana, Hana, Athena, Deep Blue, Minty, Drake, Bly, Cynthia, Seria, Chibi, and Dillon were lined up against the bow. There it was. Tokyo Bay. As they docked, greeted by a group of bewildered observers, she spotted someone important.

Sophia saw her. She was standing near the docks, a cloak wrapped around her to break the spring breeze. But that face, pink hair and eyes, were clearly visible now that the water was out of her eyes.

"Mommy…" Out of all the emotions going wild in her mind, one broke through. Joy. "MOMMY!" Sophia raced down the plank, across the docks and into her mother's waiting arms. "Mommy, mommy." Sophia started to cry.

"My little girl." Tamao was crying too. She ran her fingers through her daughter's messy, soaked hair, holding her tight, as if she feared if she let go Sophia would be dragged away again.

"I missed you." Sophia whimpered, pressing her face into Tamao's shoulder.

"So did I." Tamao uttered softly. "I thought about you every day. I thought…I thought I'd never see you again."

"Hana!" Shinigami's cry of joy got Sophia to look up. Her cousin had found his mother in the crowd, and the stage was set for another tearful reunion.

"Hana too?" Tamao brushed away her tears and moved to meet her nephew. They were quickly joined by Athena, Deep Blue, Minty and Drake. Tatiana hung back, watching. Sophia looked up.

"Mommy, there's someone I want you to meet." She took Tatiana's wrist and lead her back to her family. Tamao straightened up.

"Who's this?"

"This is Tatiana onee-chan." Sophia announced. "She was my roommate in Aegolius. She looked after me and helped me believe we'd escape. If she hadn't been there for me, I would have curled up in a corner and stayed there. She's an orphan."

Tatiana blinked and looked up. Tamao smiled softly and pulled her into her arms. "Thank you."

"It's nothing." Tatiana said modestly, ducking her head. "I knew she'd do the same for me."

"Athena!" Athena turned around and looked up at Bly, who had approached the group. "The sea workers are setting up an overnight shelter for kids waiting to get picked up, because it's getting late. Whoever is waiting for a family to pick them up or awaiting a flight to China or Britain should head there."

"I'm good." Seria said. "My parents are on a business trip that lasts until next week, and Shinigami-sama is letting me crash at your place, if you don't mind."

"Of course not." Shinigami glanced at Bly, Cynthia and Dillon. "I'm sure Lyserg wouldn't mind making some extra curry for you guys."

"CURRY!" Cynthia jumped. "CURRY CURRY CURRY! I LOVE CURRY!"

"Thanks miss." Dillon said quietly.

"That's very gracious of you." Bly added. "I'd love to spend the night."

"Let's go." Tamao said with a smile, and the group walked down the road to the Asakura compound.

**/Anna's P.O.V.**

Anna bit her lip in anger as she watched Hana, Shinigami, Tamao, Sophia and their friends head back to the Asakura compound. Somehow, Hana and his friends had evaded all the traps, gotten past all the guards, and sailed straight home. Skench had underestimated those children, and now he was going to pay for it. They were definitely going to fill in their parents on what happened in Aegolius, and then it wouldn't be long before the supreme court heard about it. Hana's defiant expression replayed itself in her mind. She hated the boy and the half demon more than ever.

"This isn't over, Shinigami Asakura…I'm not done with you or your son yet."

**Asakura Compound**

Sophia sat nestled in her father's arms, happily munching on a ginger snap and purring like a kitten. She was back in her living room, the familiar smell of home in the air. The meter on her happiness bar was, on a scale of 1 to 10, around twenty and going up. Hana was sitting with his father and mother, having a HUGE glass of milk. Athena sat between Li and Bly, devouring the cookies she had been offered. Deep Blue and Minty were eating ice-cream on the couch. Seria appeared from the kitchen with a ginger snap and plunked down next to Hana. Dillon was sitting by the fire, draining the ENTIRE container of apple juice.

Hao tightened his grip on his daughter and looked around the room. "What happened?"

"Mmmm?" Drake looked up with a mouthful of food and eyed their parents questioningly.

"After you got snatched." Ren elaborated. "When those thugs took you to Aegolius or whatever it was called."

Athena and Bly exchanged a glance. "Where should we start?" She asked.

"I know." Bly said, and he murmured something under his breath. Athena smiled at him and threw her arm around his shoulder. Bly smiled.

"OKAY. Starts when they dragged me out of the van and took me inside. The general, Skench, gave us and god-alone-knows-how-many-kids a huge speech that went something like this…blah blah blah…"

Athena went through the whole story. Whenever she stopped for breath, Minty or Sophia would jump in and continue. They told them about the Flecks, how long they had to work, the food they ate, escaping, meeting Bly, Cynthia and the other runaways, navigating the canyon, the beach battle, building the dingys, and the giant waves that carried them home.

Deep Blue concluded the story with a question. "When are we going to fill in our law suit?"

"Very soon." Hao promised, his voice icy and dead serious. Sophia nodded, nuzzling her father's shoulder. Her father was not to be messed with when he was angry at someone.

"If I **EVER **get my hands on Skench, I will **KILL **him!" Ren spat angrily. Yoh didn't speak up, but his eyes narrowed in anger.

"Excuse me." A soft voice broke in. Everyone turned around and saw Tamao and Tatiana walk into the room. "I have an annoucment to make." Tamao said.

"What is it, Tamao?" Horohoro asked. (almost forgot he was there!)

"I'd like you all to meet Tatiana Asakura. I've adopted her into our family." Tamao replied, smiling.

Sophia let out a squeal of delight and pounced on her sister and gave her a big Wookie hug. "Yay!"

Tatiana smiled awkwardly. "Sophia-chan, you're crushing me…"

"Sorry." Sophia pulled her to her feet.

"I knew you were up to something when you two went into the kitchen." Hao said, smiling at his adopted daughter. "Welcome home."

Tatiana smiled weakly. "Thank you so much…" They had a big family hug.

"Now, bed time for all of you!" Shinigami ordered. "All of you should get some rest. Tomorrow I'm taking you lot to the theaters, so get some rest!"

"HORRAY!" The children filed upstairs.

"What are we going to see?" Seria asked, grabbing onto Hana's arm to squeeze up the stairs and into the grand bedroom upstairs.

"An American Tale." Hana replied. "It's old, but the remake got great reviews, and I figured it fit our former situation."

"Sweet."

"I've watched that movie." Dillon added. "It's very climatic."

"I can't wait for tomorrow!" Sophia declared. "So let's go to sleep…IF that's possible."

"Good point." The kids all chose beds and flopped down on them. "Good night everyone." Tatiana said.

"Night."

"Night."

"Night." Sophia drew in the smell of her bed, and looked around her room. She snuggled her stuffed kitten. "Miss me, Fluffy?" She put her head in her pillow and closed her eyes.

**/Author's note: Wow, foreshadowing for the sequel. The next chapter is the last, so please REVIEW! REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman king. How many times do I have to say it?**

**Chapter 12: Normal life?**

Sophia was woken by the sunlight streaming through the window of her room. She sat up and stretched. Her friends were snoozing away on the cots, and Tatiana was on the spare bed next to hers. _So it wasn't a dream! _She thought. _We're home, and Tatiana onee-chan is my sister! Hurray! _

Sophia got up, looked at her clock, and smiled brightly. 10:00 am. "Come on guys, let's have breakfist! Four hours till the movie!"

Tatiana sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Morning, Sophia."

Hana straightened up. "Oh yeah! We're going to see the American Tale remake today! Everybody up!"

Somewhat grudgingly, Athena, Minty, Deep Blue, Drake, Dillon, Bly, Cynthia and Seria all got to their feet and headed downstairs. Suddenly Minty's eyes lit up.

"I smell chocolate-chip pancakes!" The kids exchanged a look, and then practically trampled each other to death getting down the stairs.

Shinigami finished setting the table just as they exploded into the kitchen. She looked up and smiled. "Good morning everyone. Did you sleep well?"

"Better than I have in the past five years." Bly replied honestly, sitting down at the end of the table. Athena took the seat next to him and Sophia plunked down next to her.

While the others got seated, Tamao placed a HUGE plate of pancakes in the middle. "There's enough here for everyone, so no pushing. The maple syrup is in the fridge if anyone would like some."

"You're an awesome cook, Tamao-sama." Dillon said, chewing on part of his pancake.

"Thank you. I've been at it for a long time." Hana glanced at his aunt. Confused, Sophia followed his gaze. A shadow was flitting across Tamao's face. Hana's eyes narrowed for a moment, but then he smiled again.

"You know, auntie, if being a sitter doesn't work, you'll always have being a chef as a fallback."

Tamao smiled. "Why, thank you Hana."

Sophia was slightly confused. _What's up with Hana? _She made up her mind to interrogate him later before returning to her pancake.

**/At the Theaters**

Sophia got a super-jumbo popcorn with EXTRA butter (a/n: My mother would never let me do that!) to share with Tatiana and Cynthia and scooted into the middle of the row of seats at the very back of the theater, which had the very best view.

"I can't wait!" Cynthia squeaked. Tatiana nodded vigorously.

"Do you know what happens, Dillon-kun?" Sophia looked over at him, hoping he'd drop something.

"Don't you want to see for yourself?" Dillon tilted his head and looked at her funny.

"Sure I do! I was just wondering if you've seen it."

"No, not yet. I've read the reviews, but I've never seen it. Dad's too poor to take me."

"That's the thing with the Patch tribe, isn't it?" Minty asked from Sophia's far right. "They're soooooo poor."

"They pay for all kinds of stuff during the shaman fight." Deep Blue said.

"And they run inns for wandering shaman." Bly put in from Sophia's far left.

"Heartfelt hospitality." Athena said, smiling. "Those guys are so gullible. In a good way, of course."

"Guys! Movie's starting!" Drake chided from his seat between Tamao and Shinigami.

"Right!" The kids grew quiet and turned their attention to the screen.

The movie was absolutely as climatic as the reviews promised. Sophia watched, open-mouthed, though almost the entire movie, especially when the mice used a giant wooden mouse stuffed with firecrackers to chase the cats straight into their one weakness-water.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" Athena murmured during that part.

"We didn't have any firecrackers." Hana pointed out.

"Good point. But we could have found a substitute if he had looked around for longer."

After two hours of almost non-stop action, father and son mouse we reunited and the movie ended.

"That ruled." Minty declared. "As soon as it's out on DVD I'm buying it."

**/Back home**

"Dad! You're home!" Sophia ran in and hugged her father.

Hao put his arms around her, a satisfied smirk on his face.

"What's up, Hao? You have that look in your eye…" Tamao smirked a bit herself, as if she already new the answer.

"Alright, you got us." Hao put his hands in the air. "Yoh and Ren have it on TV. You wanna see a certain freak of nature get busted?"

"YES!" The children practically screamed.

After a fierce competition, everyone had space on the couch and Yoh turned the TV on. It was the island Aegolius was on live news. The canyon was ringed with tanks and armored cars. Choppers circled overhead, shinning beams of light downwards. It was kinda like in those superhero movies when the thief gets busted. Thousands of kids wandered towards the transport trucks, as if they couldn't believe their good luck. The overseers, snatchers, and finally Skench himself were put in chains and placed in police transit.

The operator appeared on screen. "A recent chain of kidnappings and other events has lead to the discovery of the most scandalous crime in the last fifty years. The Revered Skench Ablah was behind a massive train of organized kidnapping of young children, and he and his accomplices are currently faces international trail under the charges of kidnapping, child abuse and forced labor, and finally the molding the child soldiers. If you're child was kidnapped at any point in the last ten years and is found among the sea of young faces, you will be sent a message. Unless he/she is in need of immediate medical attention for whatever the reason, your child will be brought straight to the nearest train station or airport in your area, ready to be picked up. If he/she is sick, you will be informed or the illness and the whereabouts of the hospital he/she is being treated at. For further information, go to .com or call 1800-999-1900."

Athena smirked. "You got what's coming to you Skench. Have a nice time in Alcatraz!"

Hana scanned the line of accomplices thoroughly, and his eyes darkened. Now Sophia _knew _something was up.

**/Later**

Hana pulled his gang aside to talk. His expression was dead serious.

"You're saying someone escaped the federal investigation?" Bly asked, biting his lip.

"Yeah. There's this girl…she has blond hair, blue eyes, and the powers of an ikato…she was using the 1080..."

"So she was the one who tried to trap us on shore." Deep Blue growled.

"Yup. She…she has something against mom and dad. Something that happened before we were born."

"What do you mean?" Seria's eyes were wide. Hana told them about how the girl said she used to be engaged to Yoh, but he fell for Shinigami and married her instead.

"Dad wouldn't have hurt her on purpose." Hana insisted. "Besides, this woman was just cruel. I could see it on her face."

"Oh man." Cynthia said quietly. Dillon nodded in agreement, eyes solemn.

"Guys…I'm just want you to be careful. She's hell bent on revenge, she might take it out on people close to me…"

"Are you expecting us to hide like mice?" Seria demanded. Hana looked up, startled by the icy tone in her voice. "If she so much as harms a hair on you I will make her wish she had never been born. You problem is our problem Hana. If she comes back, we'll take her. Together."

"When I'm in my gave people can walk all over me." Athena added. "but until that happens-" All of them nodded, eyes narrowed. "I will never go down without a fight."

Everyone put their hands together. "We're in this. We're together and always will be!"

**End**

**/Authors note: Final chapter complete! I hope you all liked it! I had a great time writing it, and I hope you all had a great time reading it! **


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